One promising approach to the treatment of various medical conditions is the administration of nucleic acids as therapeutic agents. By way of example, this approach can include the administration of RNA, DNA, siRNA, miRNA, piRNA, shRNA, antisense nucleic acids, aptamers, ribozymes, catalytic DNA and the like.
In order to mediate an effect on a target cell, a nucleic acid based active agent must generally be delivered to an appropriate target cell, taken up by the cell, released from an endosome, and transported to the nucleus or cytoplasm (intracellular trafficking), among other steps. As such, successful treatment with nucleic acids depends upon site-specific delivery, stability during the delivery phase, and a substantial degree of biological activity within target cells. For various reasons, these steps can be difficult to achieve. As one example, nucleic acids are readily degraded by enzymes in the in vivo environment.
Accordingly, a need remains for devices that can deliver therapeutic nucleic acids to a target tissue and methods of making and using the same.